Featured Alumni 2013

Greg Skuta, MD

Greg Skuta, MD, 1985, president and CEO of the Dean McGee Eye Institute (Oklahoma City) has been elected president elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmologists. He will serve as president elect in 2013 and president in 2014. He completed a glaucoma fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and served on the faculty at the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center before joining Dean McGee.

Christopher L. Larson, MD

Christopher L. Larson, MD 1975, was given the WMAA Service Award, which honors an alumnus who has exhibited exceptional commitment to the WMAA over the years. Larson, who has practiced comprehensive ophthalmology in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for more than two decades, has been a dedicated member of the WMAA for many years. Larson has served as a board member, executive committee member, president elect and, from 2002-04, as president. He has been on the editorial board of the Quarterly since 2001 , has served as chair of the editorial board since 2002 and alumni editor since 2004.

Mark Lucarelli, MD, FACS

Mark Lucarelli, MD, FACS 1997, professor of Ophthalmology, received the UW Health Physician Excellence Award for Clinical Education. This award is given for “exceptional performance in clinical practice, education and a commitment to the mission, vision, and values of UW Health.”

Dr. Lucarelli specializes in oculoplastic, facial cosmetic, and orbital surgery and is chief of the Oculoplastics Service. He also serves as program director for the fellowship in ophthalmic facial plastic surgery.

In receiving this award for excellence in clinical education, Dr. Lucarelli is being honored for his work teaching fellows and residents at UW and also for his teaching that takes place nationally and internationally.

Teaching is a vital part of the mission of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

Daniel Knoch, MD

Daniel Knoch, MD 2007, was awarded the Clinical Teaching Award by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Class of 2011. A single award recipient is chosen each year. This award is given to recognize a faculty member whose excellence in clinical teaching has left a lasting impression on the graduating class of medical students.

Dr. Knoch, an assistant professor of Ophthalmology, coordinates and leads the medical student training for the Department. He has received other awards for his teaching as well.

In 2009, Dr. Knoch was awarded the Clinical Teaching Award from the residents in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. In 2008, he received the Medical Alumni Association’s Clinical Science Teaching Award, which is selected by third-year medical students for teaching excellence.

Matthew D. Davis, MD

Matthew D. Davis, MD 1955, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the sixth annual Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. National Physician of the Year Awards.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to physicians for their lifetime of dedication to research and practice in their respected fields.

Dr. Davis served as Department chair from 1969 to 1986. From 1972 to 1979 he also chaired the Diabetic Retinopathy Study, the first randomized multicenter clinical trial sponsored by the newly established National Eye Institute. The trial documented the value of photocoagulation in reducing the risk of visual loss from diabetic retinopathy, which was then a leading cause of blindness. To provide central grading of retinal photographs collected in the trial Davis established the UW Fundus Photograph Reading Center. The Center has been involved in many trials over the past 35 years.

Dr. Davis is an author or coauthor of more than 200 peer reviewed articles and has received many honors, including the Mildred Weisenfeld Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the Howe Medal from the American Ophthalmological Society. Dr. Davis became Professor Emeritus in 1996.